


Temporary Ecstasy

by NeophyteScribbler



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-03-03 12:26:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2850815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeophyteScribbler/pseuds/NeophyteScribbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A guitarist meets a cellist. Wu Fan and Lu han are two musical prodigies. Both are studying music at  Stanford University. Due to unexpected occurrences, Wu Fan and Lu Han are forced to share a room while on an overnight school trip for a week.</p><p>In which Wu Fan and Lu Han thinks that it's just lust. But maybe this time, it's the other way around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

_Prologue_

Approximately, 133 million babies are born every year. The 15 million are premature babies while the other babies are born normal. As a child grows, parents will always try their best to teach and test their child’s Intellectual Quotient also known as IQ.

 A child who has an IQ lower than 79 is said to be retarded, whilst a score of 80 to 119 is considered to be in the border of “average” or normal. Gifted children’s scores range from 120 to 180. People say that gifted children share some common characteristics, either in language skills or in learning abilities, or maybe even both. Some may also have hidden gifts on music, art, dance and a lot more that can be enhanced with a little instruction. 

Wu Yi Fan is a musically gifted child. Born with an exceptional talent, he was able to play the cello at the age of four like a 20 year old, who has studied for years. Not wanting to waste their child’s talent, Mr. & Mrs. Wu quickly looked through different music instructors that had experiences with gifted children.

“Good luck son.” Mr. Wu patted his ten year old son’s hair. They were currently in the backstage of Yifan’s school auditorium. Apparently, Yifan’s parents decided to enroll him into a music and art school to foster their child’s love and appreciation of music.

“Aren’t you nervous Yifan?” Mrs. Wu asked her son with a concern smile.

 Yifan shook his head and smiled brightly.

”Thanks dad! And I’m not nervous mom. I know I can do it.” He grinned while scratching his neck. Okay, maybe Yifan was a little nervous. It was his first time to join the school's music contest, the Intramural concours.

“Now that’s my boy!” Mr. Wu smiled ruffling his son’s hair. “Well then, we’ll be going to our seats now.”

Yifan just nodded with a smile. Watching his parents leave the backstage, Yifan exhaled while holding his cello. He watched the other kids who will also perform today. While scanning his surroundings, he caught someone staring at him. A boy that look the same age as him. They stared at each other for a long time. When he was about to ask the other boy, he suddenly heard the announcer and quickly fixed himself. He glanced back and can see that the other boy was still staring at him.

_“Performer number: one from the music department, Wu Yi Fan.”_

Yifan walked towards the stage as the crowd claps.

_“Performing a J.S.Bach composition, Cello Suite No.1 Prelude in G Major”_

The stage lights were far too bright for him. Nevertheless, Yifan relaxed and sat on the music stool, he then placed his cello between his feet and laid his instrument down to his left side. He can hear the clapping of the crowd slowly fade into the background. Closing his eyes, he began to place his fingertips to the neck then the fingerboard. He took a deep breath, and relaxed his wrist. Then Yifan pulled the bow across the string.

Playing his heart out, it was obvious that Yifan enjoyed playing the cello. With every string bowed, the more passionate Yifan became. ‘He played the cello flawlessly’ the crowd thought.

One last note and he is finally done.

The crowd clapped loudly as he bowed. The smile on his parents faces were the evidence of how proud they are of him. Yifan returned backstage and exhaled. _“I did it!”_

“Wow you’re good at playing the cello!”

Yifan looked behind his back. It was the same kid from before. He examined the boy and noticed that he was carrying a guitar. Yifan blinked then smiled to him.

“Thanks uhh...” Yifan trailed off. The other boy just smiled back at him.

_“Performer number: two from the regular department, Lu Han.”_

Lu Han began playing the guitar when he we was only three years old. He then developed a talent in singing after taking guitar lessons when he was five years old. Just like any other parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lu felt delighted whenever their child performs in a recital or school concert. 

At the age of 14, Lu Han applied at Stanford University as part of an experimental program that would test the possibility of gifted children entering university without compromising their emotional and social development. He was immediately accepted and was given a full scholarship for his talent.

It only took him two weeks to fully adjust to his surroundings. Since Lu Han is an Asian, he thought that he would be treated a differently, but he was wrong. Well yes, maybe some people thought he was too young to enter college, but there were more open-minded students. And he chose to stick with those kinds of people.

It turned out that Lu Han wasn’t the only Asian in every class he takes. He took only two months to become fluent in English with the help of his classmates. Right now, he’s in his last year in college.  

“Sup’ guys?”

Lu Han beamed at the group of young men who he calls his friends. Dropping his sling bag on his chair, Lu Han quickly ran to them.

“HEY LU, GUESS WHAT!” A brunette young man called Chanyeol turned towards Lu Han, giddy about something. Lu Han watched him jump again and again.

“WHAT? WHAT?” Lu Han mimicked Chanyeol's expressions, giggling

“THE—“

“The school is planning a school trip to Vienna. Apparently music major students are the priority of this trip, because you know Vienna is the City of Music and so on.” Henry muttered, interrupting Chanyeol’s sentence. With this, he earned a fair glare from Chanyeol. “What?”

“Did you seriously have to do that?” Chanyeol said, slightly pouting.

”You were shouting moron.” Henry remarked.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME SNOOPY?!”

“OH YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT YODA.”

Lu Han watched the two bicker with each other. He decided to cut in. “So, a trip to Vienna?” His two friends stopped bickering then turned to him and nodded while punching each other’s arms. He shook his head. Why were he friends with these two idiots again? Lu Han turned to his two other friends, Lay and Suho. “Guys...”

“Just let them kill each other.” Suho glared at the two.

Noticing the glare, Chanyeol and Henry quickly stopped what they were doing and smiled forcefully at each other.

“Now that’s much better.” Suho smiled. Turning to Lu Han, “It was said to be a one week trip.”

“Awesome! I wonder when the trip will be.” Lu Han clapped excitedly. He has always wanted to see Europe since he was a kid. Lu Han closed his eyes, imagining what Vienna looks like. Does it look like Paris or London? Come to think of it he never really thought of going to Vienna even though most of the world-famous classical composers he keen to idolize lived there. Well at least he’ll be able to see it now that—

_“Lu Han!”_

“What?!”

“You were spacing out and the teacher is here.”

“Oh.” Lu Han awkwardly looked around his surroundings. Everyone is already seated in their respective seats and he was the only one who’s standing. This is awkward. “Sorry...” He quickly but quietly went to his seat and innocently smiled at Professor Kevin.

Professor Kevin cleared his throat and proceeded to what he was about to announce.

“Okay class, a new student just transferred here in Stanford and will also be taking my classes from now on.” The Professor stared at his students as if he’s waiting for a reaction.

The room was filled with silence.

“Come in kid.”

Everyone’s head turns to the door as it opened. A tall, handsome young man walked in to the front of the class. Lu Han sat up straight. He thought that other man is definitely taller than him. His short black hair suits him well; the same goes for the clothes he is wearing. Damn! His shoulders look so broad in that white-collared shirt. Yeah Lu Han thought, he is hot.

“Please do introduce yourself.”

“My name is Wu Yi Fan, nice to meet you all.” Yifan lowered his head then looked back at the students who were all staring at him.

“He is also Chinese like some of you. So I hope you all get along with each other even if it’s just in my class.” Professor Kevin smiled to his class then to Yifan. “You can go seat behind Lu Han. Lu Han raise your hand.”

Lu Han raised his hand just like what his professor said. He watched Yifan walked towards the chair. But he was surprised when Yifan slowly stopped beside his him. Lu Han’s heart hammered loudly in his throat, or maybe in his ears and stomach. Their eyes locked. Lu Han stared deeply in those dark brown eyes. They stayed like that for 15 seconds, even though Yifan already passed by him. They broke the eye contact after hearing their professor’s voice.

With wide eyes, Lu Han fought the urge to turn around again. What was wrong with him? Why the hell did he stare back? He suddenly felt butterflies in his stomach. _Holy shit butterflies chill the fuck out._ He cringed at the fact that maybe just maybe he actually liked someone at first sight. Lu Han tried to concentrate at Professor Kevin’s lecture and he was currently doing a great job listening. Then all of a sudden he felt a tap on his shoulders. He looked behind his shoulders.

“You dropped your pen.” Yifan’s deep voice woke up Lu Han from his trance.

“T-than—” Lu Han had to clear his throat. His voice sounded pathetic even to himself. “Thank you.” He said as he took his pen from the other man’s hand. Before he turned to his back, he gulped and finally asked. “Have we met before?”

“More or less” Yifan mumbled quietly but enough for Lu Han to hear. They had another staring contest and before Lu Han could reply their professor suddenly called him.

“Mr. Lu... I am happy that you’re socializing with our new student but please pay attention to our lesson.”

“Yes sir.” Lowering his head, Lu Han felt embarrassed. After a while, he relaxed as he processed everything that just happened.

_Those eyes are unquestionably **captivating**._

* * *

Three months have already passed since Yifan transferred. Three months since their staring contest began. And three months since Lu Han got obsessed with staring deeply intoYifan’s dark brown eyes. Lu Han doesn’t understand why they kept on staring at each other though. Every time he caught Yifan looking at him, he would always stare back.

It became a habit.

Lu Han’s friends finally noticed that there is something different with their Chinese friend. One minute they’re just chatting, the next minute they’ll notice that a certain friend isn’t paying attention anymore or rather he was busy gawking at someone.

“What time is the meeting for the Vienna trip?”

“Three O’clock”

“Are they seriously going to choose our roommates for us?”

“Wait a minute. We don’t get to choose our roommates, why?”

“I heard that they want to us to make more “musically talented” friends, so we wouldn’t feel so awkward on the upcoming practice for the concert this March.”

 “Make more friends? Dude, we’re not in high school anymore.”

“Tell that to our professors.”

_And that said staring contest is happening right now._

“Hey Lu, what’s up with you and that Wu Yi Fan guy?” Lay randomly asked.

Lu Han started to choke, not just because he was surprised, but also because he heard Yifan’s name. “W-wh-what—” He almost jumped in surprise when he realized all of his friends got their eyes on him.

“You’ve been staring at him for awhile now.” Henry muttered before taking a big bite out of his burger, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “It’s creepy.”

“I wasn’t staring at him!” Lu Han’s was defensive despite the fact that he knew what he said was a complete lie.

“Sure Lu.” This time, it was Chanyeol who spoke. His mischievous tone made Lu Han a little uneasy.

“I’m serious guys.” Lu Han sweat dropped. He tried to avoid eye contact with his friends. They know that he’s lying. Lu Han sighed and finally gave in. He won’t win this battle anyway. “Okay, you guys got me. Is it wrong to have a crush on a guy?” He trailed off.

Lu Han raised an eyebrow and looked up when he realized the table had fallen silent.

Lay had paused mid-bite, fork raised halfway to his lips.

Henry was looking at him with mild surprise and unbashed interest.

Chanyeol had a blank face on.

“Wait—”Suho blinked. He was the first one to take in what Lu Han just said.

“Oh our Lulu likes someone!”

“And that someone is a guy too”

“Don’t worry Lu, we still love you!”

_“Umm...guys—”_

“And no matter what happens”

 _“_ _Guys_ _”_

“Whatever your gender preference is—“

_“GUYS”_

“We will still accept—“

“ **GUYS!** ”

“—You?” All students inside the café twirled their heads to look at their table including Yifan, who’s currently watching Lu Han face palming. For Lu Han this could be the most embarrassing moment he has ever had. The fact that the whole cafeteria is looking at them, scratch that last part. It was more like they are looking at him.

“It’s just a crush guys. Don’t make it sound like it’s a big deal.” Lu Han hissed. He did appreciate the fact that his friends understand him but that was not the kind of reaction he expected.

“B-BUT—“

“It’s just a crush. It’ll fade sooner or later. Now hush.” Lu Han took a bite out of his sandwich as a sign of enough.

“Right... sooner or later.” Henry snickered, which earned him a smack in the head. He just zipped his lips before giggling again. “Okay okay. But you two are good in hiding, like we never caught you two chatting with each other yet.”

“Yeah, he’s right. How come we never seen you two talk to each other yet?” Suho narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Were you planning in keeping this as a secret until you two become a couple?” Lay added. He placed his palm to his chest, to make it look like he was hurting.

“I swear to god if guys won’t stop doing that, I will have to smack your heads all at once.” Lu Han grumbled.

“Okay, you guys did talk to each other already right?” Suho took another sip of his cold orange juice, as they wait for Lu Han’s answer.

“Well about that—“

“Don’t tell me...You guys haven’t talked to each other yet?” Henry stared at him incredulously.

“Wow, you guys have been eye fucking each other since day one but never really got a chance to talk to each other.” Chanyeol deadpanned. This time it was him who got smacked by Lu Han. Chanyeol groaned in pain. “HEY! YOU SMACKED ME HARDER THAN HIM.” He pointed at Henry who just thumbed his nose at him.

Real mature.

“We are _not_ eye fucking each other.” Lu Han flushed at that and stared down at his unfinished sandwich. Why can’t they just use a more appropriate word other than ‘fucking’ like flirting?

“But seriously, not even a small ‘talk’? No ‘how are you, I’m okay’ talk?” Suho asked softly.

Lu Han shook his head. “Nope.” He sighed heavily. Actually that one was a lie. They actually spoke to each other several times it’s just that it didn’t really feel like they had a real conversation.

Like one time when they were both left alone in a classroom after Math 17, Lu Han was facing the agony of whether to make the first move or just wait. Then his feet suddenly just drag itself towards the taller and well he just stood there, awkwardly thinking how. How can his feet do this to him?

“H-Hi.” Lu Han cursed himself for stuttering.

Yifan turned around and looked at Lu Han. Lu Han was expecting him to say something, like a hello or at least hum. But he said nothing, literally no word.  Then suddenly, he realized they were staring again. And just like that, Lu Han was lost again.

They stared at each other in awkward silence. Lu Han doesn’t realize that he was already five minutes late for his next class, until his phone rang.

“I- uh have to go.” Lu Han quickly run outside. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining the tiny smirk that curled at the corner of Yifan’s lips.

He didn’t have time to wonder.

Then there’s this one time again, but it was Yifan who made the first move.

They were both at the Rodin Sculpture Garden. Lu Han was sitting in a bench, studying for his Math quiz tomorrow. Then he felt that someone tapping him. Since he was too busy with his notes, he only hummed in response.

“Can I seat beside you?”

“Yeah… sure.”

“Thanks.”

“No prob.”

Wait a minute.

It took Lu Han a second to realize that it was Yifan's voice and that he was actually beside him.

_Holy shit._

_Yifan just talked to him._

Lu Han quickly spun around to his right side. He blinks blankly twice and then he heard a titter. _Shit!_ He was so stunned by how close their faces are, that he accidentally dropped the books he was holding on the ground. He’d felt his cheeks and throat warm. _Oh fuck._ Flabbergasted, he crouches down to pick up his scattered notebooks.

Yifan kneeled down and began helping Lu Han by picking up his highlighters and pens. At the same time as he was about to pick the last of the highlighters, He and Lu Han suddenly clashed their foreheads together hard, both boys pulling away from each other with a grunt. Lu Han touched his forehead to feel a bump. Yifan did the same before meeting other's eye.

 ** _“Sorry.”_**  They both said in chorus.

Both boys looked at _each other's_ eyes for a brief moment before standing up.

Well, this is awkward, the two of them thought and yet they are still gazing into each other’s eyes just like the one they had in their first meeting. They just stood there.

Lu Han could hear the wind blow by, the leaves rustling again. He immediately wrapped his arms around his body, shivering at the sudden coldness.

Yifan watched Lu Han’s hair as it was wind-blown, unruly and wild.

Lu Han was the first to break the eye contact. “I- uh need my highlighter pens back.” He nonchalantly scratched his neck as he looks at Yifan’s left hand which is currently holding his valuable pens.

“Oh right, here.” Yifan blinked. Extending his left arm forward, he observes how Lu Han reaches forward finally and taking his pens. But before Lu Han can retrieve his pens and put it back to his pockets, Yifan suddenly grabbed his other wrist.

Eyes widening, Lu Han watched Yifan put a crumpled paper on top of his palms. He takes the crumpled paper. He stared at it then to Yifan, his expression beyond confused.

Yifan just grinned at the perplexed look Lu Han shot him.

Luhan was about to ask what was that, but Yifan suddenly waved at him.

“I have to go.”

Luhan wanted to follow him but he was a bit uncertain. _Because whenever he looked at him, Yifan would always keep an eye contact with him. And he might use this to get away again._

 

 


	2. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gawd. I've been busy and damn. I'll just post the next chapter in a minute. Tell me if there are certain mistakes ._. and now just go shoo.. read.

 " **C** hapter one"

It turned out that the crumpled paper Yifan gave to Lu Han was a guitar sheet music. A guitar sheet music he composed years ago. The very first song he made and despised. What made Lu Han wonder is, where and how Yifan came to have it? Lu Han wanted to know. He tried asking Yifan several times but failed.

Lu Han had it.

That’s why, when he caught up to Yifan, where the hallway turned, he quickly grabbed his wrist and pinned him against the wall. Lu Han stared into Yifan’s surprised eyes. And still, they ended up staring at each other.

Lu Han almost banged his head against the wall that time for letting Yifan get away again. He guessed that maybe he has done something to the other guy, but he didn’t know what it is.

“You know,” Lay murmured. “If you two haven’t really talked to each other yet, you guys should.” He took a gray t-shirt with the Stanford logo in red print and carelessly pulled the shirt over his head.

Lu Han stood by the window of their dorm, staring thoughtfully down at the people below. The meeting for the Vienna trip will begin soon but they wanted to change their shirts first. He and the whole gang were sticky and sweaty from playing soccer.

“I already tried, it’s just that…” Lu Han trailed off, remembering their frequent stares and his failed attempts to speak with Yifan.

Lay looked at mirror that showed his friend, who gradually glanced at him, “Just what?” He combed his dark brown hair.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Maybe he hates you” Lay abruptly said, pointing his comb towards Lu Han before placing it down.

Lu Han stayed still for a moment. Could it be that Yifan actually hates him? He tried to recall every single time they bumped into each other. All he could remember was the way Yifan stared at him. He never frowned or glared at him. Sometimes Yifan smiled at him though. He shook his head.

_Definitely no._

“Dude no.” He deadpanned.

“Joking joking!” Lay laughed. “I don’t think he hates you either because of the eye fuc—“

“Flirting. Eye flirting,” Lu Han was quick to cut him off, slowly putting emphasis to each word. “Okay?”

“Eye flirting, got it.”

“We should be going now,” Lu Han put on his Vans and hurriedly grabbed his backpack. He tapped his foot as he waited for his friend, “I don’t want to be late.”

“I’m sure Director will be late so…” Lay mumbled while stretching his arms over his head lazily.

“I know that.” Lu Han began yawning as he looked at the time through his phone. “ **Fuck.** "

Lay asked. “What?”

“It’s already past three o’clock. Let’s run!”

Before Lay could respond, Lu Han swiftly grabbed his wrist and dragged him down the hallway. As they both ran outside their residence hall, they ran and bumped into different people and apologized always shouting “ **Sorry** ” together. But they just continued running until they finally reached the building.

The two best friends looked up the name painted on the door, then to each other.

_Arrillaga Multipurpose Room 132_

**Finally.**

They bent their knees, resting their weights on them, and gasped for air. Lu Han was sure their hearts were beating rapidly. Lay grasped his shoulders, “I forgot to tell you.” He breathed heavily

“What?” Lu Han panted. He was looking at Lay when the door suddenly opened on its own and one of their Department Accompanist, Ms. Jessica Jung was revealed.

“Well you two are early,” The accompanist smiled while looking down at them. “But do come in.” Ms. Jessica left them as the two boys stood up.

Lu Han’s face was plastered with confusion. “Early?” he sounded astounded then he looks intently to his friend, “What… I thought we’re—“ he paused, eyes narrowed.

“I set your phone’s time 20 minutes ahead.” Lay gave him a gullible look. “What? I thought you said you didn’t want to be late.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Lu Han’s right eyebrow twitched. “Yixing seriously?” he let out a frustrated breath, sagged his shoulders in defeat, because if he ever ask why, he knows that Lay will probably say he forgot why.

“I forgot why… " See? There you have it "...but I’m sure I just changed it this morning.” Lay nodded then blinked at Lu Han. “Wait, did you just call me by my real name?” he gave him a puzzled look.

“Yes Lay. Yes, I just called by your real name.”

“B-b-but… why?”

Lu Han still doesn’t understand why the hell he gave the title  _best friend_  to this person. There are tons of people out there he could’ve called his best friend. Henry is good, but he’s an asshole. Chanyeol is funny, but he’s an idiot. Suho is kind, way too kind that made Lu Han think that he’s also terrifying. Then there’s Lay, his best friend who has it all.

He sighed.

Lu Han couldn’t careless to where he will sit so he just dropped his bag on a chair along with Lay, who just followed him and picked the seat right beside him. Before sitting down, he examined the meeting room and looks like they weren’t the only early ones in the room.

 _He crossed his arms_ on the table and rested his head on them. Damn. If only Lay didn’t set his phone’s time, they would have been able to relax for a while. He pressed his headphones into his ears and closed his eyes slowly drifted into dreamland.

It wasn’t long before he was woken by his best friend.

“Lu?”

Lu Han heard him, but didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled down his headphones.

“Are you awake?” Lay poked Lu Han’s cheeks.

“Obviously yes.”

“Are you still mad at me?”

“No, I’m just tired.”

“Hey Lu…”

“What.”

“Look,”

Lu Han looked at him with blurry eyes. He watched his best friend’s index finger which seems to be pointing at the chair next to him. From Lay’s finger, he shifted his gaze to his friend’s lips. Lay mouthed something. He breathed another _‘what’_ and then he blinked several times to clear his blurry eyes. He watched Lay’s lips closely. " _Look beside you"_  he heard him whispered.

He blinked twice then sluggishly turned to his other side. He froze, his eyes landed on the person beside him. His mind went blank for an instant.

_Yifan._

Lu Han stared at him for a long moment. It’s kind of weird because this time, Yifan isn’t staring at him. He is concentrated on the music piece he’s currently holding. After a moment, he noticed that Yifan shot him a side-glance. Sudden realization hit him.

_Wait a minute._

With wide eyes, he quickly turned his head back to his best friend.

Lay couldn’t help but laugh slightly at his friend’s reaction. Lu Han’s expression is almost comical. “I was _gonna_ tell you” he mumbled.

“Tell me that HE just sat beside me?”

“What? No.” Lay stopped laughing. “He’s been sitting there since we arrived”

Lu Han could’ve sworn that there was no one next to him. He hadn’t even noticed that someone had been sitting beside him. “Are you serious?”

Lay nodded. “I was actually surprised when you suddenly dropped your bag beside him.” He stayed quiet momentarily. He looked at the ceiling. “I guessed that… you were probably spacing out.”

_Well fuck._

“Remind me not to space out when I’m with you.”

“With me?”

“Yes, with you.”

“Why with me?”

“Don’t. Don’t ask why.”

“Why?”

Lu Han sighed. “Hush.” Lu Han motioned his head towards the door when he heard voices.

The door opened and their friends together with Director Mario entered.

The first person that Chanyeol saw while entering the room was Lu Han. He waved and walked towards the two, dragging Suho and Henry along with him.

Before Chanyeol can greet them, Henry beat him to it.

“I see what you did there.” He gave Lu Han knowing look, as his eyes saw the person beside Lu Han.

“DON’T.” Lu Han raised his fist, staring daggers at him.

Henry pretended not to hear and smile as he sat in front of them. Suho followed him with a sigh while Chanyeol just chose to sit beside Lay.

“ALRIGHT, EVERYONE ALL EARS ON ME.”

Lu Han looked up from his iPod. Everyone in the room looked like  _this_  was what they’d been waiting for all day. It was like they were all waiting for a concerto to start. Or a Christmas break announcement.

Director was explaining why he was fifteen minutes late AGAIN. He gave the details about the Vienna trip. Like:

When is the trip?

October 12, about a week from now.

Where will they stay?

At the Grand Hotel Wien.

Are Instruments needed?

Not really. But you can bring your instrument as long you can carry it.

Will a Piano fit a plane?

Good luck with that.

Lu Han wasn’t really paying attention. He kept on thinking if there is a possibility that he and Yifan will end up as roommates. It's possible, he thought. He just hoping that luck is with him this time.

Maybe.

But then, he heard the Director’s voice, calling Yifan’s name.

_Never mind._

They were choosing random names. Random names for choosing who will be roommates. And Yifan just got called. He was partnered with someone named Max.  _So much for being Yifan’s roommate._

Lu Han sighed. He stood up as his name was finally called. His roommate is a junior, nicknamed Tao. He’s Chinese like him, though he's not sure if he's older or younger than this guy.

They bowed at each other as a sign of respect since they are both Chinese.

Lu Han thought that he seems nice. They didn’t really have time introduced themselves since Director called another pair. He heaved a sigh as he return back to his seat, aware at the fact that Yifan is now staring at him.

 ****October 11.** ** _**Saturday** _

Chanyeol barged in LayHan’s room without knocking.

“We’re gonna go to a store to buy food for the trip, you guys comin'?” Chanyeol queried, watching his two friends packing their things. “You guys still not done packing?”

Lu Han glanced up. “We wanted to pack this morning but we woke up late so…” He glanced back to his bed. He was in the middle of choosing which shirt to bring. He gave Lay a look, who immediately understood it.

“The Givenchy one.”

“They are both Givenchy.”

“Fire Madonna.”

Lu Han nodded and placed the neatly folded shirt inside his luggage. He stood up as he dragged his luggage’s zipper to its top. He noticed that Chanyeol was giving him an odd look.

“What?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “You guys act like girls sometimes.”

Lu Han glowered at him. “I’m manly.”

“Whatever you say…” Chanyeol rolled his eyes and pulled open the door, “So are you coming or…?”

Lay nodded at Lu Han, his expression still grim from lack of sleep. He and Lu Han were working hard to compose a new song last night that they didn’t even notice the time.

“Just a second.” Lu Han quickly snatched his bag from his bed. “Let’s go?” He continued as he walked towards the door.

As they walk on the way to the parking lot, they chatted with each other for a while. Suho, Henry and their tomboy friend, Amber, was waiting for them.

“Yo Amber! Long time no see!”

“Hey Lu to the Han!”

Lu Han and Amber gave each other a typical homie handshake.

Amber is a guitar genius like Lu Han. She’s a year younger than him but sometimes Lu Han thinks that they are both in the same level. He even wondered why she wasn’t placed in the same year as he was.

“What took you guys so long?” Henry was leaning against his Porsche, phone in hand and thumb moving across the screen.

“We were packing our things.” Lay began yawning and looking at Lu Han.

“Let’s go then.”

Lu Han and his friends got into the backseat of Henry’s car while Amber sat in the passenger seat. Lay immediately dropped his head back into the headrest, and shut his eyes. Lu Han felt that he’s probably really sleepy so he let him be.

“Seatbelt.” Henry prompted, as he always did.

They drove in silence for most of the trip, until Lu Han saw the convenience store they were heading to. The name amused him.

“Kum and Go…what.” He blurted out, staring out the tinted window.

Henry was quick to pick up, “More like ejaculate and evacuate.”

“Jizz and Jet.” Chanyeol cackled.

Lay opened an eye and smiled. “Shoot and Scoot.”

“Blow your load and hit the road.” Amber added.

“Bust ya nut and off ya strut.”

Henry stopped the car just to look at the backseat. Lay, Chanyeol, Amber and Lu Han were all looking at Suho.

Silence filled the car.

Suho looked at his friends who were all intensely giving him a blank stare.

_More silence._

Then the group burst into laughter.

"Jesus, that was a good pun." Henry chuckled as he parked the car in the closest spot to the convenience store.

"Damn," Amber sniggered. "Suho finally learned something from us."

“So proud of you!” Chanyeol said, wiping away fake tears.

They laughed again. Suho laughed with them and smiled, embarrassed.

Amber was first to unbuckle her seatbelt and to hop out of the car, followed by the four seated in the backseat.

Lu Han stretched his arms, "By the way Ambro, who did you get partnered with?"

"A girl named," Amber pondered for a second. "Klaire... wait, or was it Kleyza, or Kristine? I forgot the name but it definitely starts with K." she shrugged her shoulders.

"You seriously forgot your roommate's name?" Lu Han gave her a blank stare.

Amber offered nothing more than another absent shrug.

Henry finally climbed out of his car after ten minutes. His friends all watched him with a look like they waited for a year just for him. "What? It’s for the car's engine."

He heard them sigh.

"Do I seriously have to explain that a the oil can gum up—“

Chanyeol quickly cut him off. "Oh God. Don't even."

They laughed as they entered the store. It wasn't cramped. Lu Han recognized several music students who he just waved at. He then followed Chanyeol and Lay, who immediately headed to the snack aisle.

"Help me pick out a snack!" Lay told Lu Han, who was standing in front of the Doritos, because who doesn't like those? He grabbed two Doritos and held them in his arms as he continued down the row to look for more snacks.

"How many snacks are you guys getting?" Chanyeol asked when Lu Han grabbed a stack of Pringles.

"As many as we can carry because Airplane snacks are expensive." Lu Han told him. "Hey, I'll just go and grab some Oreos. Lay, you know my fave snacks." he didn't wait for their reply as he bolted to the sweets section. He stopped in the mid of his tracks as saw the least person he expected to see today.

_Yifan._

Faith is probably playing with him. Yifan glanced at him.  _Yep. Definitely playing with him._  He considered his options. 1. Walk towards him and greet him. 2. Grab any Oreo and run away and 3. Just slowly back away. Yeah, he chose the third one. But when he was about to step back, Yifan said something to him.  _Holy Damn._

"Grabbing a snack?" Yifan casually asked him.

Lu Han stared at him for a while. When Yifan suddenly spun his head towards him, he replied with a "Yeah." he stepped forward, closer to Yifan.

They didn't really speak to each other after that. But they did stare at each other's eyes for several times. Lu Han find it funny that they could stare at each other's eyes like they have known each other for a long time but can't talk to each other because... Well he doesn't know why either.

Lu Han saw that Yifan has several snacks in his arms. Cheetos, Fish Crackers, Some chips and sweets.

"I'll be going now, see you around." Yifan waved at him.

"Yeah see you." Lu Han smiled at him. He then turned at the sweets he picked. Strawberry flavored Oreo and... nothing. Wait. Did he really just stood there and watched Yifan for a good whole fifteen minutes?

He sighed and grabbed more snacks. More Oreo, a box of Loacker, some chocolates like Hershey’s and Cadbury, and eight boxes of Pepero because Lay always steals his. He scanned the shelves one more time and grabbed few more. He piled them on a small basket and made his way to the checkout counter where his friends are waiting for him.

"So did you get enough  _sweets_?" Chanyeol went giddy on him.

"Yeah, look."

"I wasn't talking about that kind of sweets." Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows.

"What?"

"Yifan just walked out from there." Lay pointed at the sweets section.

"So?"

"You know exactly what we mean."

"No I don't"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"NO!"

 ****October 12. Sunday.** ** ( _Time check 4:00 AM) _

The San Francisco Airport like any other airports out there, is always filled with buzzing and confused tourists, busy businessmen walking fast and Stanford students waiting in line for their turn in the airline counter.

“Fuck,” Lay whispered. Lu Han hastily turned his head at his back, giving Lay a questioning look. “I think I forgot my passport.”

“Are you sure?” Lu Han asked, “We double-checked everything before we got inside the bus. Did you check your backpack already?”

Lay nodded.

“Every part of your backpack? Even the smallest pockets?”

Another nod.

“How about your pockets?”

Lay paused for a second then blinked. “Oh…” He checked his front pockets then his back pockets. “Found it!”

“Wow, if that thing would have been a snake it would’ve bitten you to death already.” Lu Han deadpanned.

“Love you Lu!”

They waited sometime again then it was finally their turn. Lu Han and Lay requested seats next to each other. They watched the attendant put destination tags on their checked luggage and finally hands them their boarding passes.

“Yo guys!”

The two best friends turned to see their other two friends, Chanyeol and Henry.

“Hey,” Lu Han smiled at the two and grabbed their boarding passes.

The four walked towards the gate in silence. Lay just took his headphones out. Henry doesn’t seem himself, same with Chanyeol. That’s the time where Lu Han noticed that someone was missing.

“Guys where’s Suho?”

“Probably taking a piss somewhere or being killed.”

“Henry...”

“What? Don’t ask me questions in the morning or I might...” Henry yawned. “...never mind.” He walked faster and eventually passed his friends.

“He’s not much of a,” Chanyeol stopped momentarily to yawn and stretch, “morning person...”

“I can see that.” Lu Han felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and stared at the screen.  _‘Where the hell are you guys? I’m already at the gatehouse.’_ He silently read. He quickly replied with  _‘We are almost there, just stay put! XDDD’._

When they finally arrived at the boarding area, they immediately noticed where Suho is, because he was the only guy who doesn’t have any seatmates. They greeted each other and seated themselves onto the airport chair.

Henry pulled out his phone to check the time. “It’s four twenty. Just forty more minutes!” he stretched his arms above his head.

“Hey Lu,” Suho tapped his friend’s shoulders, earning Lu Han’s attention, “haven’t you noticed anything?”

Lu Han turn around to look at Suho. “Notice what?” he asked.

“I don’t know... something or someone close by.”

Lu Han narrowed his eyes. “Where is this getting at?” He saw the tiny smirk on his friend’s face.

“Just look around.”

Lu Han did look around. His eyes went from Lay who was sitting next to him playing some game on his phone, then to Henry who has a cap covering his face, probably sleeping. His eyes turned to Chanyeol, who was also sleeping, then to Amber, to a Stanford student, then another Stanford student, and another and so on until he turned to his back.  

He doesn’t know if he was expecting this. Maybe, half-expecting it? He swallowed. There, Yifan with his earphones on his ears, most likely listening to music. He looks nice, Lu Han thought.

“You did this on purpose.” Lu Han whispered as if he was accusing Suho of doing something bad, slowly looking back at Suho. 

“I did not.”

“Yeah. You did.” Lu Han rolled his eyes.

“For your information, I was here already before he came in.”

“Sure... and I thought you were one of my normal friends”

“I am Lu... _I am_.”

Lu Han didn’t respond. His mind suddenly went blank. Yifan’s usual slick, black hair isn’t up this time; instead it was down covered by a snapback. He observed that Yifan is also wearing a signature patch pocket plaid flannel shirt in red and black, something similar to his own. Then those leather knee panel zip detail biker pants suits him perfectly. He seems like a fashionista and Lu Han likes this very much.

Lu Han saw Yifan’s mouth lift just slightly. He looked closely and realized that the other guy was reading something. Lu Han tried to squint more to see the title but was interrupted.

“Stop staring at him, Lu.”

“Am not—“  

“EVERYONE LISTEN UP!”

All heads spun to Director Mario. The sleeping ones shot their eyes open, woken by their Director’s voice. He asked them to stand up and form a line. As they stood up, he continued on speaking, giving them the instructions that they should follow.

“What’s goi—“Lay yawned, “—ng on?” suddenly standing as he stretched.

Lu Han sighed “Just follow me.” Gesturing Lay to follow him, they both stood in line with other students. Unaware by the fact that Yifan was actually standing behind him, Lu Han accidentally stepped on the other’s foot. He felt two strong hands grasped his arms and held him for a second.  

“Shit. I’m sorry—“ Lu Han’s eyes widened once his eyes landed on his victim. He quickly move aside but wasn’t able to move completely because of the two strong hands gripping his arms.

“It’s okay.” Yifan’s deep, husky voice turned Lu Han’s insides into Jelly.

Yifan didn’t let go and Lu Han didn’t complain either. They just stood like that, listening to their Director’s small lecture before they depart. The thing was… Lu Han wasn’t listening anymore.

When your crush is standing this close to you and grasping your arms in the same time, will you be able to concentrate? No. There was a blush blooming across Lu Han’s cheeks, looking a little embarrassed.

"This is like getting manhandled but in a different way." Lu Han thought. He can feel it. His friends are presently looking at them, giggling because of him and him.

The Director gave them a minute to double-check their bags before their departure. Most students did comply. Lu Han did want to check his bag. Problem was, Yifan was just behind him and holding him ever so carefully.

Lu Han gulped. "Umm...” he turned to Yifan.  

Yifan stared at him, face blank and them calm. "Hmm?" He felt Lu Han shudder. Wait. How did he felt his quiver? He looked at his two hands, "Ohh right, I'm sorry!" he removed both his hands from Lu Han’s arms.

Lu Han would have protested at the loss of contact. But he just smiled. "I'm sorry for stepping on your foot."

“What? No.” Yifan chuckled while scratching the back of his head. "It’s okay, really."

In the end, Lu Han wasn’t able to double-check his things. Even though he and Yifan didn’t talk much after that, he had this satisfying feeling deep inside his chest.

As the students walked inside the jet bridge which leads to the aircraft door, Yifan walked behind Lu Han with a luggage and a carry-on bag slung over his shoulders. He continued staring at his back.

One by one, the students entered the aircraft with their luggage. They walked down the aisle in search of their seats.

“Found it.” Lay dropped his backpack on his seat and waited for Lu Han.

They both helped each other as they placed their other bags and luggage up the overhead bin.

Lay asked Lu Han if he wants to seat next to the window. Lu Han responded by sitting on the said seat. “You sure?”

“I want to surpass my fear before I graduate or at least try.”

“Okay then...”

Before sitting down, Lu Han _glanced around_ , a small smile forming on his lips at the sight before him. Then he saw Yifan sitting on the other side of their aisle. Yifan seemed to have noticed him because at the time he was looking at him, he waved.

Lu Han awkwardly waved back.

“You know what I feel, Lu Han?”

Lu Han turned around. “You feel what?”

His three other friends were sitting right behind them. Henry is staring outside while Suho is being an angel he is. _Well from the teasing earlier, Lu Han doesn’t think so anymore._

“Love.” said Chanyeol. “I feel love.”

Lu Han groaned, “Very funny Chanyeol.” He heard Chanyeol laugh, as he sat down.

**_**"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I want to welcome you aboard US Airways, Flight 56 service from San Francisco International Airport to Vienna International Airport, with a quick stop off in Frankfurt Airport. Once we get airborne today, our flight time will be 14 hours and 10 minutes and we are expecting a fairly smooth flight today. Once again, we thank you for choosing to fly with us today and we hope you enjoy your flight"** _ **

“You know…” Lay offered Lu Han a candy, which Lu Han accepted. “You two are awkward.”

Unwrapping the candy, Lu Han gave Lay a look. “Who?”

“You and that Yifan guy.”

Lu Han paused, candy raised halfway to his lips. "It’s weird actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like we know each other but not really.”

“Well both of you do flirt with each other most of the time.”

“I don’t think it’s flirting.”

“Eye fuc—“

“Flirting.”

“But you said it’s not flirting.”

"We are never speaking of this again," Lu Han groaned as he finally ate the candy. He let out a sigh. This is going to be a long flight.

“ ** **Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the Fasten Seat Belt sign. If you haven’t already done so, please take your seat and fasten your seat belt. And also make sure your seats and folding trays are in their full upright positions. If you are seating next to an emergency exit, please read carefully the special instructions card located by your seat.”** **

Lu Han and Lay took their instruction cards and read it.

“— ****at this time, we request that all mobile phones, pagers, radios and remote controlled toys be turned off for the full duration of the flight, as those items might interfere with the navigational and communication equipment on this aircraft. We request that all other electronic devices be turned off until we fly above 10.000 feet** **

Lu Han heard Henry grunt. He was probably listening to his favorite song right now. He tilted his head a bit to get a glimpse of Yifan, who seems to be fairly listening.

 ****We will notify you when it is safe to use such devices. We remind you that this is a non-smoking flight. Smoking is prohibited on the entire aircraft, including the lavatories. Tampering with, disabling, or destroying the lavatory smoke detectors are prohibited by law. A designated area during our layover will be given to those who desire.**** ****If you have any questions about our flight today, please don’t hesitate to ask one of our flight attendants. Thank you.”** **

The thrill of a moving plane always jolts everyone awake. Lu Han watched as the large metal box idles its way connected to the trucks outside that would soon be dragging them onto the runway. He heard a ding and the watched lights above go off.

As the plane took off, Lu Han let a sigh hiss through his clenched teeth and closed my eyes, tilting my head back to rest it on the seat behind him.

Lu Han dislikes airplanes. Actually it’s because he has a  _fear_ of  _heights_ ,and is terrified of flying. Maybe sleep would be a good thing right now. How long was the flight to their first stop? 11 hours. He could keep his eyes shut for that long, right?

Lay looked over him and asked him if he was okay, he replied with a nod. But really he was not okay.

Knowing his friend, Lay gave Lu Han a mint candy.

That made him realized that the candy Lay gave him already melted in his mouth. He took the candy, unwrapped it then ate it.

About 10 minutes later.

“ ** **Ladies and gentlemen, this is Timothy and I am your super cute chief attendant for today. On behalf of Captain Kyle and Ronell and the entire crew, welcome aboard US Airways, Flight 56, service from San Francisco to Vienna with a quick stop off in Frankfurt. We are currently level at 33,000', and that will probably be our final cruising altitude today.”** **

Lu Han heard another ding and the sound of seat belts being detached. Eyes closed, he still didn’t move.

“ ** **The Seat Belt sign is now off. Please feel free to move about the cabin as you need to. I just have one special favor to ask, and that is, while you are in your seat, to please keep your seat belt fastened snugly about you. That is what we do in the cockpit just in case we encounter some unexpected turbulence. In the mean time, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight, and if there is anything that anyone of us can do to make your flight a more pleasant one, please let us know. Once again, welcome aboard.”** **

“Hey Lu.” Lu Han can hear the concern in Lay’s voice.

He kept his eyes closed. “Yeah?”

“Do you need your sleeping pills? This is a long flight.”

I need those. “Naah…I’m good.” What.

“You sure?”

Lu Han hummed as a yes.

Lay took Lu Han’s headphones and iPod from his backpack and gave it to his best friend.

Lu Han really couldn’t find a better best friend than Lay. With only his right eye open, he scrolled to his playlists and placed his headphones over his ears.

After 30 minutes of constant tossing and turning. Lu Han finally fell asleep together with his best friend.

****11:43 PM** **

As Yifan walked out from the lavatory, He found Lu Han still asleep, head hanging awkwardly off his headrest. Lay was beside him probably playing games with his iPad.

He walked over them. "Cute." Yifan mumbled as he carefully leaned over Lay to fixed the pillow behind Lu Han's head. “No blanket?” He asked Lay.

Lay watched him without a word, and then he realized that Yifan actually said something to him. “What?”

“Lu Han doesn’t have a blanket?” Yifan blinked at him.

“Oh…” Lay took a blanket from one of their paper bags and gave it to Yifan. “…here. “

Yifan tucked Lu Han warily, smiling as he wrapped him in a blanket without disrupting Lu Han’s dream. Before he walks away, Yifan raised  _his index finger_  close to his mouth, pointing outward.

Lay nodded.

With that, Yifan went back to his seat.

Lay had the ‘ _w_ _hat just happened’_ look written all over his face. He glimpsed to his friend then shrugged. He secretly took Lu Han’s Pepero and ate it for the time being.

****12:20 PM** **

Lu Han woke up, feeling warm and more rested. He looked at his blanket then to best friend. Lay simply shook his head which made him confused. “What do you mean by…” Lu Han shook his head just like the way Lay did.

“I didn’t put that.” Lay pointed at blanket.

“What?”

“You know what? It’s already 12:20 pm and I think you should eat lunch.”

Lu Han can see it. Lay was acting strange. He watched his friend as he talks to an attendant.

“Which would you like to eat Lu?”

“Anything really.” He let Lay pick the food since they would probably share it. He sighed; it’s only been six hours since they left, five more hours to go until they finally arrive in Germany.

He reached for his iPod and let it charge while he played with it.

When they finally had a stop off in Frankfurt, it was already dark and really cold.

Lu Han looked at his phone, “Five fifteen p.m. but it's also two fifteen a.m.” He took his jacket out and wore it quickly. “Gosh. I didn’t expect this coldness.”

Henry blew on his hands, “Fucking time zones.”

“Cold cold cold cold.” Chanyeol repeated as he rapidly rubbed his hands together.

They have an hour and 30 minutes to wander around the airport, but they just chose to sit in a little café and drink hot tea.

“He’s eye fucking you again.”

“Henry will you stop that.” Lu Han grunted.

“He’s just behind you Lu Han.” Henry whispered, constantly looking from his phone to Yifan then back to his phone.

Lu Han blushed at that. “Just stop.”

“Fine.”

After they drank their teas, they went for a walk just to kill time except for Henry and Chanyeol who volunteered to stay because they were both cold. Their fault for forgetting their sweaters in the plane.

Suho went to souvenir shop to buy something for his mom and asked Lu Han and Lay to continue walking because he might take some time.

“Hey I gotta pee.” Lay said.

“Then go, I’ll wait here.” Lu Han stood there, watching his friend ran towards the comfort room.

Lu Han took the opportunity to observe the airport as he compliment the airport in his mind; he felt a tap on his shoulders. He looked at his side.

“Hey…” Yifan greeted him.

“Hi” Lu Han greeted back, a bit surprised that he didn’t stutter.

Yifan didn’t utter another word after that. He just stood beside Lu Han.

Lu Han found the situation really weird. He had always tried to get to talk to Yifan and he always gets away. And now, Yifan is standing beside like those incidents didn’t happen.

Lu Han turned to Yifan. “Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“Yeah?”

Ohh could this be really it? Will Yifan finally _listen_ to him? “Where did you get my first music sheet?”

“You’ll know soon.”

Lu Han’s eyes broaden as felt Yifan’s cold hand on his head, gently ruffling his hair. “What do you mean by that?”

“Soon” Yifan walked away, waving at him

“Hey wait!” Lu Han was about to follow him but remembered that Yixing was in the comfort room.

_Goddammit._

 

 


	3. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOSH. THIS CHAPTER. JUST. GUYTH. But yeah again I've been very very very busy. I might update the next chapter on April-May. WHo knows, maybe it's also a double update. AND I'd like to thank my Beta, Ria for helping me and my poor english <3 love you boo.

_**Chapter 2** _

“ _ **Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your**_ _ **seat backs and**_ _ **tray tables**_ _ **are in their full upright position. Make sure your**_ _ **seat belt**_ _ **is securely fastened and all**_ _ **carry-on luggages**_ _ **are stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Please turn off all**_ _ **electronic devices**_ _ **until we are safely parked at the gate. Thank you.**_ _ **”**_

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Lu Han took the sickness bag that was provided by the airplane and quickly threw up in it.

Lay lightly tapped Lu Han’s back, looking at his best friend in concern. And it looks like he wasn’t the only one who’s concerned.

“Lu, you okay?” Lay heard Suho with worry evident in his voice.

Currently, the attendants are passing around the cabin to make a final compliance check and pick up any remaining cups and glasses.

Lu Han folded the upper part of the sickness bag then transferred it in a plastic bag. “Just airsickness.” He wiped his sweat and  _vomit_  stained face. “I’m good”

An attendant asked to for Lu Han to give him the plastic bag as they are already collecting trash.

“You sure?” Lay patted Lu Han’s back once again.

Lu Han smiled at him “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“ _ **Ladies and gentlemen,**_ _ **welcome**_ _ **to Vienna.**_ _ **Currently the we**_ _ **ather is humid and cold so get your jackets and sweaters ready; expect some fog and rainy days, but also periods of mild weather and sunshine. Vienna is nine hours ahead of San Francisco, get your watches ready because it's already 5:36 am in Vienna. We have certainly enjoyed having you on board today, we hope to see you again real soon, and thanks again for flying US Airways.”**_

They heard a ding as a sign that the Captain finally turned the Fasten Seat Belt sign off.

Lu Han paused for a second before detaching his seatbelt followed by Lay. He stood up to stretch out both his arms then he went to the aisle to help Lay in getting their luggage out of the overhead bin.

“Can I sing jet lag now?” Chanyeol joked as he retrieved his luggage. “Because my heart, heart, heart is so jet-lagged.”

“HAHAHAHA.” Henry laughed sarcastically. “Funny.” Then he glared to Chanyeol who quickly zipped his lips.

“I forgot that it’s morning again.” Chanyeol whispered to Suho, who just snickered at the remark.

* * *

Stanford students were asked to fall in line with their respective roommates as they wait for the bus.

Lu Han and Tao found each other in a matter of minutes. They talked although most of the time it was the older one that did the talking. Tao seems to be shy, Lu Han noted.

When they entered the bus they didn’t talk anymore, (not because of Tao’s short replies when Lu Han tried to converse with him,) because Lu Han felt the tiredness, he was probably jet lagged.

Their hotel keys were given to them while entering the hotel. They were instructed to just rest since their activities will start tomorrow instead.

Once Tao opened their room, Lu Han quickly went inside and attacked his bed.

“Mmf,” Lu Han muttered into his pillow and buried his face deeper. His body was exhausted down to the bones. He wasn’t even sure if his muscles knew they had a purpose anymore.

“You okay senior?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that? It’s Lu Han kiddo.” Lu Han responded while he tried to roll over.

“Ohh right…” Tao scratched his nape and smiled shyly.

“Kiddo, I have a proposition for you. You can do whatever you want to me if you won’t open that door whenever someone calls my name and let me sleep all day,” Lu Han mumbled, throwing his head to his side and revealing his neck.

“D-don’t talk like that senior Lu Han.” Tao practically squeaked and blushed in embarrassment.

“Just let me sleep then…” Lu Han curled. “And stop with that senior.”

“Y-yess sir.”

"Luuu Hannnnn" Lay drew out Lu Han's name as he tugged on the sheets, pulling Lu Han out of his dream.

"Tao..."

"Yes sir?"

"What did I tell you about opening that door?" Lu Han asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.

"You said to not let anyone one in whenever someone calls your name." Tao stated. "What? He didn't call your name."

Lu Han groaned, half-hiding his face on the pillow.

"Wakey wakey!" Lay shook his friend, flopping down next to him. "You've been sleeping for almost a whole day."

Lu Han sighed. He rolled over to reach his phone from the nightstand; he opened an eye to look at the glaring screen. "Crap. You were serious."

"What made you think I was lying?" Lay blinked at him.

"Because you got that look on your face."

"What look?"

"That you want me to go places with you look." Lu Han replied, dropping his phone back onto the nightstand. Sleeping for more than he intended, made him feel more exhausted. He stared at the ceiling before sitting up. "You have no idea how challenging it is for me to sit up."

Lay and Tao laughed at Lu Han.

"Either you get up now so you can eat dinner or no dinner."

"What?" Lu Han cried out as he finally snapped up in bed. "Oh God. My head hurts." Lu Han massaged his temples before turning to Lay who had a sheepish grin on his face. "You like to see me suffer, don't you?"

"Not much." Lay replied, "Come on already, we need ask director for permission for going out."

"Just... let me shower for 10 minutes." Lu Han tried to get to his feet. He stumbled forward because he moved too fast, but he was finally standing. "This is not funny." he glared at the two after he heard their sniggers.

* * *

"But Director—“

Director shook his head. He frowned at Max as he folded his arms; he then peered at Yifan, Lu Han, and Lay who were all quietly seated on the couch behind Max. "What I don't get is... why did you punch Mr. Wu in the stomach?" His eyes turned to Max.

“Again, I didn’t mean to punch him, okay?! I just…" Max gritted his teeth as he thumped the desk with his hand.

Director Mario gave out a heavy sigh. “Just what?"

"Just…well he was pr-provoking me…” Max paused and thought for second before nodding like he was agreeing with what he just said.

“What is your real intention Max?" Director finally snapped, because he knew that Max was lying.

"I…I want a new roommate." Max said softly, maybe a little embarrassed.

“That’s it?” Director pinched the bridge of nose with his forefinger and his thumb.

“Uhh, yes.”

“So you punched your roommate because you want a new one, is that right?”

Max nodded.

“You know, you are a very intelligent person Max.” Director drawled out with extra attention to the student’s name. “You are also talented, But…”

“But?”

“Are you really a Stanford student? Because that is not the way a Stanford student should behave.” Director remarked. He looked at Max who bowed his head then across the room. The three students were also listening to their little argument. “You haven’t changed. What did I tell you about violence?” He turned his eyes to the clock on his upper right and sighed again. It was already late. “This is a grave offense and you are in big trouble once we get back to Stanford.”

“But—”

“No buts.” Director frowned, standing up, he stretched. “Now for your roommate, I’ll be the one who will choose it for you.”

“Fine.” Max threw his arms up in the air.

He walked towards the three silent students. “Lu Han.”

Lu Han looked up from his fingers. “Yes Director?”

Director was about to ask him if he wanted to be Max’s roommate but he suddenly heard a grunt from Max. Knowing the student, he just said, “Never mind.” He turned to Lay. “Yixing?”

“What?” Lay blinked. “Oh…no _no no no no no no **no**_.” He repeatedly shook his head when he finally understood the look he got from Director Mario. “I’m very _very_ satisfied with my roommate already sir.”

Director turned his head back to Lu Han. “Lu Han, what’s the name of your roommate?”

“Huang Zi Tao” Lu Han said.

“There you go Max…” Director turned and faced Max. “…a new roommate.” He quickly cut off Max before letting the student speak. “No buts. He’s a third year, right Lu Han?”

“Ahh… yes.”

“Perfect.”

“Tch.” Max spun around and stomped away from the current situation, leaving Director, Lu Han, Lay, and Yifan alone in the suite room.

Director watched the student go. “Don’t mind him. He’s always been like that, if you haven’t already know.” Director proceeded as he turned to the three remaining students. “Lu Han you should pack up your things again, you will be the exchanging roommates with Max. And tell Mr. Huang that he has a new roommate while you’re at it.”

“What?” Lu Han said, feeling somehow panicky. “My new roommate is…” He turned to Yifan then to Director. “..him?” He swallowed. _This cannot be happening._ He squeezed Lay’s hand, who also squeezed back.

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

Well, that escalated quickly.

“N-nothing.” Lu Han almost whispered. He glanced at Yifan, who also glanced back at him. They somewhat caught each other’s eyes and Lu Han wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence.

“Great then. You may go now” Director looked at Yifan. “Yifan?”

Yifan hummed in response, watching Lu Han and Lay leave.

“You should visit the clinic again tomorrow morning. Even though Max punched you only once and as you said earlier, it didn’t hurt as much,” Director said as he sat beside Yifan, “You sure it doesn’t hurt as much? I’m pretty sure Max’s punches are quite strong. I know, because he already punched me before.”

“Honestly? Just a little... but it doesn’t hurt like what a real punch should be.” Yifan assured Director Mario, smacking his stomach moderately.

“I just hope that you’re telling the truth. But still we need to be sure that there is no internal bleeding or anything fatal.” Director yawned. He already felt tired because of the travel fatigue, and then Max happened. “Okay, you are dismissed. See you tomorrow. And again Yifan, go to the clinic if you feel abdominal pains or any pain at all, got that?

“Yes Director.”

* * *

Lu Han has been sitting in front of Yifan's hotel room for exactly 30 minutes, debating in his head whether to knock or just sleep at the lobby because shit. He never thought that he would be nervous like this.

He started to stand up, thinking that he should try again. His stomach clenched as pushed himself to knock.

Lu Han stared at the door. _'_ Maybe I should sleep somewhere else. The bench outside seems cozy enough.' He laughed. _'How longer do I have to stand in front of this damn door?'_ He pressed his forehead against the door and sighed. “The bench it is then.” He whispered to himself before walking towards the elevator.

Lu Han heard the elevator chimed. He was about to drag his luggage inside when a husky voice broke through his thoughts. “Lu Han?”

Lu Han jumped at that. He looked at his back, staring up at the owner of the voice. “Yifan?” He muttered.

“I was about to get you, you were taking too long but then I heard someone by my door.” Yifan asked, “Where are you going?”

Lu Han was sure, really sure that he was quiet beside that door. How the hell did Yifan hear him? Was his footsteps loud or was it his whispers? “I was going to buy some....drinks for us.” He blurted then mentally slapped himself as he looked down to his shoes. He could not get any more pathetic.

“Lu...” Yifan dropped an eyebrow and shook his head, “You're a terrible liar.” He said, pulling Lu Han's attention back to his eyes.

Lu Han froze. ' _What the hell did he mean by that?'_ He gulped.

They stared at each other with a concentrated expression for several seconds. Lu Han shifted on his feet and glanced away, feeling uncomfortable.

“Anyway,” Yifan took a step closer to Lu Han. “Need a hand with those bags?”

“Uh...no need, but thank you.”

“If you say so. Let's go?”

Lu Han nodded and followed Yifan as they walked towards _their_ room. He stood there, waiting for him to open the door.

Yifan pinched his key, then opened the door for Lu Han.

Lu Han whispered a 'thank you' before making his way inside the room. He slowly scanned their room. It's almost the same as his room with Tao except the placing of the beds were a little different.

The room fell silent after the soft shut of the door.

“Your bed is the one on the...” Yifan walks to his side, “...right.” He said, pointing at the bed beside the window.

“Okay.” Lu Han nodded, dragging his things with him. He sat down on his almost king sized bed and exhaled. First, he needs to process everything that just happened. Right now, he's in the same room as Yifan because Max wanted a new room, which Director didn't really approve of but he needed to. Why? Because Max punched Yifan in the stomach though it could've gotten worse if they (He and Lay) didn't stop Max from throwing another punch. Yep, that pretty much sums it all.

Wait a second.

Where did Max punched Yifan? The lobby or the entrance hall? Or was it in the hallway? Oh God. Why was he stressing himself over insignificant things? Lu Han sighed. Though he was sure it happened in the entrance hall. Another sigh. He flinched when he felt something cold touched his cheeks. He glanced over his shoulders toward the cold thing that caused him to wake up. It was a soft drink can.

“Thought you wanted a drink.” Yifan smiled at him as he held the can to him.

Lu Han watched him with wide, curious eyes. “Th-Thank you...” He said. He took the can from Yifan, ignoring the electrifying feeling he felt when their fingers brushed with each other. He looks at can then at the brand name, because he had never heard the brand before. “Almdudler.” He realized that he had said it out loud.

“Ahh yeah... it's a popular Austrian drink, if you haven't heard.” Yifan informed him.

As soon as he heard those words, the beat of Lu Han's heart began to inform him how close Yifan was. He was tempted to stare back at Yifan, but he chose to stare at the can he was holding and initially opened the can and took a sip.

“What do you think?”

“Tastes a bit like ginger ale.” Then he took another sip.

He felt Yifan moved to sit beside his. He accidentally touched Yifan's hands when he placed his palm down on the bed. “Sorry...” He muttered, quickly removing his hands.

“For what?”

“For touching your hand.” Lu Han shyly said.

Yifan laughed and Lu Han found it unusual and new. So he looked up to face him, coming eye to eye with Yifan.

"You're staring at my face again." Yifan said. His elbows meet his knees and he leaned forward, smiling calmly.

Lu Han didn't know to whether feel embarrassed or annoyed by Yifan's laugh and sudden words. Okay. First of, what's so funny? Well, he admits that apologizing for touching someone’s hand was bit ridiculous. Like, usually a normal person will ignore that. But c'mon, _You're staring at my face again?_ Oh that's big coming from someone who started it all.

“So what if I am?” Lu Han challenged, eyes narrowed. “Aren't you also staring back?”

Yifan grinned at that. “Well yes. I am staring back.” He rested his chin in his hands and waited for Lu Han to say something.

Lu Han flushed at that and stared down at the can he was holding as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He didn't know what to say next. It was so weird. It was like... he's acting different, almost like a _girl_. Henry would've slapped him by now for not being his regular self.

He took a sip. _Was he gay?_ Lu Han's eyes widened and shook his head. Nope. It's just a crush. He took another sip. Suho did mention that it's _totally_ normal to have a man crush on someone. He explained that it’s just an admiration thing.  

He remembered the time when Suho was explaining _somethings_ when he was only 14 and new in Stanford.

“When you're just dreaming about hanging out with him, punching each other in the shoulders, and doing the same things you do with us... then no, you're not gay.” Suho said, making it clear for him. “You just happened to have a man crush on that person.”

“So... I'm not gay for Yixing then.”

“No, you're not.” Suho laughed. “Just remember it's not a sexual thing, but an admiration thing.”

Oh yeah... Lay was also one of his man crushes back then. And look at them now, best of friends and still _straight._ He released another exasperated sigh. “Might as well as talk to him in a ' _I want be your friend'_ way.” He thought.

_Here goes._

“You know what?” Lu Han stood up, facing Yifan. He drank all the soft drink up

Yifan followed Lu Han through his eyes. “What?” He asked back.

Lu Han walked towards the small step trash can in the corner “I've been meaning to ask you something.” He stepped on it then threw the empty can inside.

“Let me guess,” Yifan ran a hand through his hair. “Where did I get your sheet music?”

“Yes that,” Lu Han nodded. “and...”

“And?”

“Have we met before?” Lu Han asked flatly.

Yifan shrugged. “More or less.”

Lu Han had already asked this question once and Of course that's going to be his answer again. He had to try again. “Does more or less mean, more of a yes and less for a no or vice versa?”

“Take a guess.” Yifan crossed his legs at the ankles, sitting comfortably at the end of Lu Han's bed.

Lu Han exhaled. “You won't tell me either way, will you?” He crossed his arms over his stomach. He walked over the other side of his bed and sat opposite to Yifan.

“Maybe.” Yifan spun his body to face Lu Han.

Lu Han frowned at him. “Oh come on.” Without thinking, he suddenly grabbed Yifan's shoulders and shook him repeatedly.

Yifan laughed at the sudden _attack,_ “Okay. Okay,” He chuckled. “Yes, we've met before.”

“We did?” Lu Han looked surprised like a gullible kid, because _wow_ they really have met before. But how? Where? When? He looked at him questioningly. How come Lu Han doesn't remember him. 

“Not telling.”

“Why...?”

“Secret.” Yifan calmly removed Lu Han's hands from his shoulders. “But yeah, we've met before.” He smiled then mentally added _,“How would've I gotten your sheet music if I haven't met you before?”_

“How come I don't remember you?”

“I have no idea.” Yifan shrugged. “Anyway, why a sudden change in the attitude?” Yifan took his time with the words, his voice intentionally teasing, “Where was that earlier?”

“I don't know.” He rolled his eyes and looked slightly embarrassed in the way he attempted to hide his own smile.

Yifan smiled back at Lu Han, “We should probably sleep now.” He stood up and stretched his arms up, “It's already late.”

Lu Han reached for his bag and took his phone out. “Holy...it's already ten forty?” He looked at Yifan, genuinely surprised then back to his phone. He stared at it for a moment. “Umm Yifan.”

“Yeah?”

“We're friends right?” Lu Han thought that it's a bit weird to ask such question, since this is like their first time to ever have a “normal” talk. He did want Yifan to be his friend, especially since they were stuck together for a week. At least, if Yifan did confirm that they are friends, it would be less awkward.

Lu Han waited for Yifan's response but he didn't dare to look at the latter. Ten seconds passed. _Yep, definitely a stupid question._ He quietly dropped his bad on the other side of his bed, holding his phone with his left hand.

Lu Han was about to lay down when Yifan stood up and tapped his shoulders.

As soon as Lu Han turned to him, he gave him a sharp flick to the forehead, “Goodnight.” He laughed at Lu Han's dumbfounded reaction. “Yes, we're friends.”

“Ouch.” Lu Han mumbled, rubbing a spot on his forehead. “You didn't have to do that.” he grimaced.

“You asked a stupid question.” Yifan playfully retorted.

“It was not a stupid question.” Lu Han responded defensively out of old habit. But yeah, it was a stupid question.

“Yeah it is.”

“No it's not.”

“Yeah. It. Is.”

Okay this is getting annoying. Lu Han sat up and held his hand in front Yifan. “Hush.” He said, like he was signaling Yifan to close his mouth. When Yifan did, he grinned at him and said. “Goodnight to you too.” He rapidly lay back onto his bed as he heard Yifan's chuckled.

The lights were turned off.

_He could get use to this._

Lu Han's phone alarm went off with an annoyingly cheerful tune from their shared nightstand. He groaned. He forgot to turn it off last night. He groggily pried his eyes open as he picked up his phone and turned off the alarm. His eyes then focused on the time, 7:00 am. He paused, contemplating if he should text Lay but his eyes drifted shut.

He can hear the shower running in the bathroom, accompanied by a familiar melody he can't really put his finger on. Then it stopped.

The bathroom door swung open. Lu Han slowly cracked one eye open and looked at his side. He watched Yifan emerged from the bathroom. He was practically shirtless, only wearing a zipped rider pants and a towel on his head.

Lu Han felt the dryness of his mouth. Lu Han you're just jealous of that body, nothing else.He shook away his thoughts and raised his arms over head, stretching, letting a sigh escaped his lips.

“Morning.” Yifan greeted him, sitting on his bed, drying his hair.

Lu Han rubbed his eyes softly, “Good morning.” He greeted back as he yawned. The evident bruise on Yifan's stomach caught Lu Han's eye. “You going to go to the clinic later?”

Yifan looked at him, “Hmm... yes,” Yifan crouched down to his luggage, selecting a shirt to wear. “I'll go after breakfast, why?” He picked a knitted black sweater with a squint-eyed skull in the middle.

“Nothing,” Lu Han watched him, eyes unwavering. “Just making sure that you will really go to the clinic.” He stood up as he wore his slippers.

Yifan arched an eyebrow, “Is that so?”

Lu Han approached his luggage,“There is a reason why Director also picked me as your roommate, you know.” He looked at his clothes, deciding which to wear.

“And that is?”

“To make sure you go to the clinic.”

“Okay...” Yifan laughed slightly. “By the way, where do you want to eat breakfast?”

Director told them that breakfast can be eaten either inside their room or at the hotel restaurant. All they need to do is to present their IDs if they ever planned to eat at the latter.

“Ohh right...” Lu Han bit his bottom lips. His friends might have chosen to eat at the restaurant. There's no way he would let them see him and Yifan together eating. It'll be annoying and the teasing will never stop. “Is it okay if we eat here instead?”

“I'm cool with that.” Yifan glided towards the phone, “Which?” He looked at Lu Han, showing him the menu card.

“Anything with bacon.” Lu Han grabbed a pullover striped sweater and a pair of jeans.

Yifan read the menu, “But almost everything here has bacon.” He snickered.

“Just choose anything that looks and sounds delicious.” Lu Han didn't wait for Yifan's reply as he hurriedly took his clothes with him to the bathroom. He closed the door, then exhaled.

It feels weird. They are really acting like they've met before. But Lu Han can't remember any Wu Yifan at all. He slowly walked over to the sink and washed his face several times. He looked at his dripping face in the mirror. Was he that forgetful? He shook his head and prepared to take a shower.

* * *

 

“A penny for your thoughts?” Yifan leaned toward Lu Han, swooping in, like he was in some big secret.

Lu Han blinked at him as he took a bite of bacon sandwich skeptically. “I was just wondering...”

“How, when, and where we met?” Yifan leaned his his arm on the table and rested his chin in his hand. “Sorry...I really can't tell you anything about that.”

“Why?” Lu Han wrinkled his nose.

“Because I can't.” Yifan sadly smiled at him and glanced away to look outside the window.

Lu Han took another bite before looking at Yifan. He saw the smile. It was somehow sad and breathtaking and beautiful all at once. He didn't pry anymore and chewed the last of his sandwich. He sipped his tea all at once and stood up. “Shall we go to the clinic?”

Yifan gazed at him and nodded.

They walked to the clinic in silence. Lu Han didn't mind it all because it was the kind of silence he liked. Not awkward.

“Have you felt any pain last night? Be honest.”

Lu Han waited as watched the nurse inspect the small bruise in Yifan's stomach.

“Just a slight pain ma'm”

“Uh huh. No abdominal pain?” The nurse pressed her fingers on the bruise softly.

Yifan shook his head.

“Well if that's the case,” She opened the cabinet beside her and grabbed four capsules. “Take one of these if you suddenly feel any abdominal pain, okay?”

Yifan nodded, taking the medicines.

“You may go now.”

“Thank you ma'm.” Yifan and Lu Han bowed at the woman and together, they went out.

“So what now?” Lu Han asked as they waited for the elevator. Both his arms folded behind his head.

“We go to the lobby,” Yifan said as he showed his phone to Lu Han, showing Director's text.

 **Director :** Oh you're done now? Go to the lobby and wait for your bus, we will have a short meeting about the upcoming events.

With a pleasant ding, the elevator opened its doors. They both stepped onto the elevator. Yifan punched the button for the ground floor.

There's one thing Lu Han was currently wishing. “Please let my friends be on the ground floor already. Please..please.. please...” The elevator chimed again and stopped at some floor. The door opened and unfortunately for both Lu Han and Yifan, it was Max, Tao, and some two other Standford students.

“Hi senior Lu!” Tao greeted him.

“Hello Tao!” Lu Han smiled. Thank God Tao was with him, it'll be less awkward for them. “What did I tell about the senior?”

“Oh right!” Tao scratched his back.

After that, everything went quiet. Tao and Lu Han were in the middle of Yifan and Max. And for the record, Tao also knew what happened.

Lu Han felt Tao tensed beside him.

The tension was so thick you can cut it with a knife.

When they finally arrived at the ground floor, Lu Han waited for Max and the other two students to get out before stepping outside. He exhaled and looked at Yifan, who was just as calm as before. “That was awkward.” He said as they walked towards the lobby.

Tao nodded at Lu Han, agreeing with what the he said.

“It wasn't that awkward.”

Tao and Lu Han stopped walking just to look at Yifan; both had this funny bewildered face.

“You're kidding right?” Lu Han looked at Tao and remembered something. “Oh right, Tao this is Yifan.” He gestured his hand to Yifan, then to Tao, “Yifan this is Tao.”

“Nice to meet you.” Yifan held out a hand.

“Nice to meet you too senior.” Tao shook the hand with a shy smile on his face.

“Senior?” This time Yifan looked at Lu Han, who just sighed.

“He has this habit of calling his upperclassman senior.” Lu Han muttered, recalling the time Tao also called Lay senior.

“It's not a habit.” Tao pouted.

“Kiddo, it is now.”

“Senior...”

“See!”

They laughed and chatted for a while before continuing their walk to the lobby. Lu Han learned several more things about Tao that he plays the flute and he knows martial arts and kung fu. The three of them are Chinese. Lu Han also wanted ask Yifan what instrument plays but when he was about to ask him, his friends suddenly arrived.

“Oh shit. Hide me...” He quickly ran behind Tao and Yifan.

Lay saw what his friend just did; he quickly told Chanyeol that he found Lu Han. They ran towards two tall Chinese.

“Lu, we know you're there.”

So close. “Ahahaha... you guys got me!” Lu Han awkwardly laughed then his face quickly changed to a frown, noticing his friends' smug smiles.

“Hey Lu, why don't you introduce us to your new friends.” Henry wriggled his eyebrows.

Suho nudged Henry on his side, and eye smiled them. “What he meant is, Hi we're Lu Han's friends. My name is Suho, he's name is Henry, that's Chanyeol and I think you two already know him, Lay.”

Lu Han would've hug Suho right there for being his savior and kindest friend ever. He mouthed an “I love you dude.” and blinked several times like he was almost teary eyed. Suho just gave him quick thumbs up.

“Nice to meet you all, My name is Huang Zi Tao.” Tao bowed gave them a swift 90 degree bow.

“Oh no dude, no need to bow like that.” Chanyeol went to Tao's side and patted his shoulders. He was a bit taller than the junior.

Then they all looked at the tallest, like they were waiting for him to introduce himself but really they all know him already.

“I'm Wu Yi Fan, nice to meet you all.” He made a quick bow.

Henry dropped an arm on his side. “So... you're our Lulu's new roommate.”

“Henry..” Lu Han hissed but Henry just ignored him.

“OKAY THE BUS IS HERE! Let's go to bus.” Lay grabbed Lu Han's arm and ran towards the lobby.

Their other friends including Yifan and Tao followed along.

“Bruh... I could kiss you, but I won't.” Lu Han said as they enter their bus.

Lay paused and made a face, “Eww... bruh.”

Lu Han laughed then he remembered that the seat plan of the bus. He's going to sit beside Yifan this time. “Who's your roommate again?”

“Eugene.” Lay answered. “He's half Korean, half American.” He pointed at a guy who was beside the window. “Oh will you look at that... your bandmates are here.” He said when he saw three familiar guys who were playing like kids at the very backseats of the bus.

Lu Han waved at them “Guys!”

“LU HAAAAAN” A guy came rushing towards Lu Han, arms wide open.

“You're too loud Andrew...” Lu Han lightly smacked the forehead of the young lad. “I thought you guys didn't want to come?”

“We thought it'll be better to come so... here we are!”

“What the hell are Zach and Keith doing?” Lu Han looked behind Andrew.

“Playing some shit on their phone.”

“Uh huh.”

“Dude I have some news for you but Director will announce it later, so I won't tell you just yet.” Andrew talked fast. “You can go and sit now bro, they are waiting for your ass to move.” He laughed, motioning to the students behind Lu Han.

“Sorry...” He apologized at the students and slided towards his and Yifan's seat.

“You're part of a band?”

Lu Han hummed. “Yes, The Exodus is the name.” He smiled fondly. He can't wait to sing with the band because it's been weeks since the last time they played a song together.

“I'm guessing you're the guitarist and the singer.”

“Yes. By the way, what instrument do you—”

“Kids, college students, my little babies, welcome to Vienna!” Professor Alex climbed onto the bus with a giddy face. “Director assigned me to be with you for today, isn't that wonderful?” Her voice was warm and happy. Most her students laughed, “We have a lot to do here in Vienna,” She said, “so let's not waste another minute. You guys ready?”

Most of the students nodded.

“Okay. The owner of the hotel that we're currently staying in, is a very close friend of our dear President John, Mr. Wallenburg. His daughter is getting married soon, aww..” She suddenly cooed. “He would like us, the orchestra and the choir, to play for his daughter's wedding. That's one.” She muttered “Second, there's a festival this week called Wien modern. It's a festival dedicated to contemporary music. We've chosen 5 Stanford bands that will play on stage this Saturday.”

Lu Han's ears perked when he heard the word bands and play.

“We chose the bands, The Hypertonics, Wrath of Grapes, The Exodus, This Band, and of course, Glass wave. They will play along with other school bands this Saturday.”

Lu Han muttered a little yes and looked behind him to see his band mates. They both gave each other a thumbs up.

“And my dear students, we are also gathered in this bus because we will start having short tours every morning starting today til' the last day. Don't worry, it's only in the morning. After lunch, you all can go and have an adventure. Just remember to be back before 8.” All the students reaction seemed to be all the same. Happy and excited. “Oh and also there will a grand practice tomorrow afternoon for the wedding, so all orchestra and choir members, you know who you are. Don't be late.”

“Damn. Looks like we won't be able to practice tomorrow. I'm a choir member.”

“Same...” Yifan said.

“Orchestra member?” Lu Han blinked twice.

“I'm one of the cellists.”

“Oh. You play the cello...” Lu Han said it like he discovered a new secret.

“Yep...” Yifan nodded then he gazed at the view beside him.

Lu Han tried to remember if he met a cellist before. Nope, didn’t ring any bells with him. He suddenly felt is phone vibrated. He picked it up and realized that he received several texts. How come he never felt it vibrate before? He shrugged it off. He had two texts from Lay, congratulating him for the band. Texts from Suho, Chanyeol, and Henry, also congratulating him and the band. And texts from several other Stanford students that he was probably acquainted with. He scrolled up and down and replied to them.

Then there's message that caught his eye. It's from an unknown number.

_Congratulations on getting picked as one of the bands that will perform at the festival._

_Let's see if you’ll get to play on that fucking stage because I WILL MAKE YOU SURE YOU FUCKING WON'T._

 


	4. Chapter 3

_Ch **a** pter  **Three**_

They went to  _Mozarthaus_ also known as the Mozart’s Vienna Apartment for the short tour of the day. 

**_You can all wander through the apartment. Domgasse number five. This is where Mozart spent over two years of his life in Vienna at the height of his success._ **

_“_ _Oh my god. Bless this place._ _”_

_“Dude those are like thousands of compositions by the legendary Mozart!”_

Students all flocked to see the walls of compositions by Mozart in his only home.

Lu Han was walking beside his best friend with Yifan behind them. He looked around with an odd look on his face. As they entered the apartment, he sighed. “I wonder if the others know that none of Mozart's own possessions are in here.” Lu Han whispered to Yixing.

“What do you mean by none?” Yixing whispered back.

“He read the reviews while we were on the bus.” Yifan said, suddenly placing his left arm around Lu Han’s shoulder.

Lu Han laughed nervously not because of what he researched, but because of the fact that Yifan was actually watching him while they were on the bus earlier.  _Goddamn._  “Yeah, I got curious okay.”

Noticing his best friend’s face, Yixing giggled for a bit and decided to help Lu Han out. “It can’t be that bad.” He said as he dragged the flustered Lu Han with him, leaving Yifan alone.

The tour ended after thirty minutes, which means the Stanford students were now on their own. The professors had already gave them the instructions on how to go back to the hotel by themselves and that there will be a bus waiting for them until 4pm if they ever decided to go back early.

Of course Lu Han and his friends didn’t want to go back that early. They wanted to enjoy Vienna as much as they could.

* * *

 

“So Lu Han, Yifan is your new roommate huh…”

At the sound of Chanyeol’s voice, Lu Han was startled from his spot. He figured that he was probably spacing out again. He had been thinking about the text he got earlier. He looked at his friends.

“Uhh…what about it?” He mumbled into the hand his chin was leaning on.

Henry examined him.

“What?” Lu Han narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit uneasy with the look Henry was currently giving him.

“You seemed normal this morning,” Henry smirked, “I’m guessing you didn’t get the d—ACK!” He coughed momentarily as Suho patted the spot where Lu Han smacked him.

“I’m sorry what?” Lu Han innocently blinked at Henry as he sipped his tea.

“I was just joking you know.” Henry murmured. “But how did you restrained yourself from giving him a blowj—FUCK!”

This time, Suho was the one who smacked him.

“Don’t talk about inappropriate things while we’re eating.” Suho sipped his tea.

Henry just pouted and decided to just continue eating his food.

“So what was he like?”

Of course someone will ask that.

Lu Han concentrated his gaze at his tea for a long, he can feel the stares his friends was giving. He can feel a déjà vu coming. “Well…”

“Well?” Chanyeol repeated.

“He is kind of friendly.”

“And?”

“Friendly.”

“Yeah yeah, you said that already.” Henry rolled his eyes. “What else?”

“Well he’s intimidating and…” Lu Han stopped to think. What was Yifan like again? Friendly, intimidating and what else? He tried remembering their conversation last night and this morning.

_“Yeah, we’ve met before.”_

He’s mysterious. Come to think of it, Lu Han didn’t even try to dig through his memories just to remember Yifan anymore. Because no matter how hard he tried, he just can’t seem to remember the taller lad.

“—han”

“ _Lu Han”_

“Lu Han… Yohooo.”

Oh shit. He spaced out again. “Yeah guys?”

“What else was he like?” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows.

“Wait a minute.” Lu Han’s thoughts were cut off by sudden realization. “Why the hell are you guys asking me this?”

“Because we need to know about the person who you’ll probably f…” Henry stopped, remembering Suho. He searched for other words through his brain. And when he found the right words, he smirked. “Frickle frackle with.”

“Henry can you not use that word.” Lu Han glared at him.

“What’s a frickle frackle?” Lay suddenly popped out of nowhere, looking as innocent as ever. 

“Is that a bad word Henry?” Surprisingly, Suho also looked confused as Lay was.

“Oh no Suho…it’s not a bad word at all…” Henry sweat dropped, but there was a hint in his voice.

“Yes Suho, it’s ba—“

“And speak of the devil.” Henry quickly slapped a hand over Lu Han’s mouth. “Hey Lu Han’s new fu—roommate, Yifan!”

Lu Han’s eyes widened and grabbed Henry’s cheeks and pulled them out until the so called snoopy began crying for him to stop.

“Fuck. My cheeks, my poor cute fluffly cheeks.”

“What are you guys doing?”

Lu Han froze and released Henry’s cheeks and watched Yifan as he stood beside him..

“No-nothing.” Lu Han laughed nervously and gave Henry a side glare.

Henry nodded as a response.

“You can sit if you like.” Suho politely gestured at the chair across Lu Han.

Yifan and Lu Han simultaneously looked at Suho, who just smiled at them, then turned back to each other.

Lu Han just shrugged and watched Yifan walk towards the said chair. Lu Han saw it. The tiny smirk in Chanyeol’s mouth. Oh. He’s definitely planning something.

“So Yifan…”

_Don’t you dare._

“Yes?”

“Our Lulu is your new roommate.” Chanyeol eyed the confused blinks Yifan gave him. “Do you know that our Lulu has a man—“

Lu Han abruptly pinched Chanyeol’s left ear.

“Jesus Christ! That hurts…”

Henry laughed as Chanyeol covered his left ear. “I warned ya.” He whispered, patting his friend’s back.

Suho then intervened. “What Chanyeol here meant was, what instrument do you play?”

Silence.

“I play the cello.” Yifan responded like he didn’t hear Chanyeol earlier.

Lu Han wanted to hug Suho for this.

“Oh you’re a cellist.” Lay sipped his tea. “I don’t know if Lu Han already told you but we,” He pointed from Lu Han, Henry, Chanyeol back to himself. “—are guitarists. Suho plays woodwind instruments.”

“I’m more on the percussion side though.” Chanyeol added as he munched his sandwich.

“Oh I thought Henry plays the violin?” Yifan arched an eyebrow. He turned to Lu Han.

“I do. I play the guitar, piano and violin.” Henry stated. “Anyway, how old are you?” He wriggled his eyebrows. This should be interesting. Since Lu Han was probably one of the youngest students in the university, they might as well know

“…I’m guessing that you’re younger than Suho.”

“He’s probably the same age as Henry.”

“No. I think he’s younger than Lay.”

Yifan laughed at them. “I’m sure that I’m the youngest here.”

Lu Han eyes widened at the statement. No way… he’s actually older than Yifan? Not that Yifan looks old or anything. Suho and his other friends are all older than him but Yifan younger than all of them?

“Oh you can’t be older than Lu Han.” Henry bursted out with a loud laugh that they’re already receiving stares from the people around them.

Chanyeol also joined him when his brain finally got what Henry meant. Lu Han is only 18 years old while they were all in there 20s already.

Eventually their laughing died down and stared at Yifan.

“Dude seriously, you can’t be younger than Lu Han.” Henry eyed Yifan and his friend.

“He’s one of the few students who got accepted in the special program for gifted children.” Chanyeol spoke like a proud mother.

Yifan smirked at the two. “I know that.”

Chanyeol and Henry narrowed their eyes.“Whattaya mean by that?”

“Guys he’s telling the truth.” Lay wiped his mouth with a napkin. He just finished eating his meal. When he looked up, all of his friends were all staring at him and that includes Yifan. “What? My roommate, Eugene, actually knows him.”

Then eyes reverted back to Yifan.

“Eugene is an old neighbor of mine.”

“Wait...”

“How old…”

“Are you”

“Then?”

“I’m 17 years old,” Yifan searched for his for his wallet and took an ID. He placed it on the table and Henry took it. He just chuckled at the various reactions he received “going to be 18 this November.” He added.

Yixing yawned. “Told ya.”

* * *

 

Lu Han and his friends wandered around together, sometimes stopping by to pose as they take selcas like other tourists. While watching his friends as they pose for a photo with a street artist dressed up like Mozart, Lu Han and Yifan were walking side by side, chatting.

“I still can’t believe that you’re younger than me.” Lu Han said, kicking small pebbles along the way.

Yifan let out a soft laugh. “I thought you already knew that.”  

“You thought wrong.” Lu Han pouted as he playfully pointed his finger at Yifan.

Lu Han was smiling brightly until he realized that Yifan wasn’t smiling back. They were both staring at each other again. Lu Han’s face quickly turned into a confused look. They didn’t even notice that they stopped walking. Lu Han blinked a few times, so did Yifan. Lu Han felt something under those dark brown orbs; it was like, Yifan was staring at his soul.

Then Yifan sighed heavily, like he just gave up on something.

“No. You are the one who’s wrong.”

“What?” Lu Han watched Yifan walked past him, still confused. “Hey wait a minute! What do you mean by that?” He chased him.

Yifan merely smiled as he looked back at him. “I already told you. We’ve already met before.”

“Huh?” Lu Han whispered to himself, as he looked at Yifan confused.

Yifan walked away as Lu Han watched.

“Luuu Haaaan!”

Lu Han heard Yixing shouting his name. He turned around and shouted back.“Whaaat?” Then he decided to run towards Yixing.

“C’mon! Let’s take a selca with the rest of the squad.” Yixing said while waving his camera. When he and Lu Han started walking, he noticed that the taller lad wasn’t with Lu Han. “Where did Yifan go?”

Lu Han looked behind him, watching Yifan’s back as the taller disappear into the crowd. “I think he want back to the hotel.” He sighed. Maybe he’ll ask Yifan again later.

Yixing blinked. “Oh did something happen?”

“Nothing happened.” Lu Han said. He then looked at his best friend who didn’t seem to believe him. Yixing just stared at his eyes, “What? Really, nothing happened.” He laughed because his best friend was giving him a funny just now.

“If you say so.”

Lu Han reassured his friend with a smile. “So how about a selca together?”

They walked together while taking selcas with various locations and angles until they’ve reached the others.  They went around the shopping district, as they go window-shopping and café hopping.

While walking, Lu Han noticed that it was getting dark and suddenly felt the tiredness crept up on him. He decided to just sit on a random bench and told his friends that he’ll catch up in awhile. When they finally left, Lu Han began people watching. He loves watching people. He has always thought that it was relaxing and enjoyable. Seeing other people have fun, walk around, going about daily activities is fun and soothing.

He looked at his phone. He has been receiving multiple messages since morning and he wasn’t surprised when he received another message like the last  _one_. He decided to read one…

_BE CAREFUL KID, CAUSE I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO PLAY ON THAT FUCKING FESTIVAL._

Lu Han already guessed that whoever was sending this messages was also with them and that he probably met this person once before. Before deleting and blocking the number, he stared at the message one last time.

“Lu Han.”

Lu Han yelped and nearly dropped his phone.  _Fuck._  “Jesus!” He said, exhaling as he looked at Yifan with comically wide eyes. “You scared me.” He closed his eyes to take few deep breaths, both hands with his phone pressing to his chest.

Lu Han felt a chin settle on his shoulder. "You know… I already gave you a heads up when I called out your name." Yifan's chuckle reverberated through Lu Han's body

Lu Han opened his eyes to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring closely back at him. How close? Well their faces were so close that they were practically at the point where their breath mingled together, their noses met and if Lu Han ever tilted his head, then their lips would soon meet too. Lu Han blushed franticly at their sudden proximity.

“Are you okay?” Yifan whispered like it was normal for two boys to be this close. For their faces to be this close.

Lu Han could feel Yifan’s breathe on his face, making him feel even more flustered.  _Oh fuck you. You’re doing this on purpose._  Lu Han gulped. To be honest, he didn't know what to do or how to react. He guessed that some passersby were probably looking at them and maybe his friends were probably giggling somewhere while watching them. But really, He didn’t care anymore. He just knew that he needed to  _get away._  “You…you’re too close.”

Both of them stared at each other for moment, “Is that so?” Yifan hid a grin and moved his face away from the other. He watched Lu Han exhale deeply. “You didn’t have to hold your breath earlier, you know.” Yifan said with a playful smirk.

“Oh shut up.” Lu Han could feel himself blushing again and tried to stop. “W-wil-will you stop staring at me?!” Oh my god. He thought he sounded like one of those tsundere anime girls. He looked around to see if any of his friends were around, thankfully they weren’t.

Yifan threw his head back and laughed. “Sorry for staring.” Lu Han was just too adorable. Once Yifan calmed down, he looked back at the other with a somewhat worried face. “But really, are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m fine.” Lu Han tried to give his brightest smile. He paused for a millisecond, and then he narrowed his eyes. “Don’t change the topic. Why did you do  _that_ anyway?”

“Did what Lu Han-ge?” Yifan smiled innocently.

Lu Han groaned. “Yifan. No, don’t call me th—” He stopped when Yifan suddenly got closer to him,  _again_.

“Oh c’mon. You are older than me,” Yifan grazed his lips against the shell of Lu Han's ear. “ _Ge..._ ” He whispered in a low husky voice.

“Yi-Yifan.” Lu Han stuttered, a vibrant blush flourishing on his face.

"Are we going to do this all night? I mean, I can really," Yifan's timber tone carried a playful air. He chuckled. “Nah. I’m just playing with you.” He grinned then his face turned serious for second. “But seriously, if there’s anything that’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

Lu Han smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

For a awhile, they sat there, watching people walk around.

“Do you wanna go back now or?”

“Yeah, let’s go back. I want to rest before the meeting thing.”

During the night, Lu Han contemplated whether he should tell about the texts to his best friend or just keep it to himself. He sighed then he suddenly realized that he just gave his phone to Yifan.

He thought Yifan was the fucking table.

Well shit.

“I may or may not have read that already.”

Lu Han blinked. “What do you mean?” Then it hit him. “Y-yo-you read it?!”

“Yeah…” Yifan said so casually.

Lu Han frowned. There is a reason why he didn’t show the message to his friends. “When? How? Why?”

“That’s a secret.”

“Yifaaaaan” Lu Han whined. It was like an animal whine.

Yifan laughed. “In the bus this morning and while we were on the bench. I got curious about why you were making that face,” Yifan stopped to mimicked Lu Han’s expression that time. “And then yeah, I may have accidentally read it the first time, but the second time may have been on purpose.”

“JESUS.”

“We can tell directo–“

Lu Han immediately cut Yifan’s suggestion. “No. Someone is probably just,” He stopped for a moment to think for the right word.“…jealous. It isn't that important.”

“It is a threatening message.” Yifan reminded him.

“Meh.” Lu Han shrugged it off. “Besides, what’s the worst thing that this person can even do to me?” He yawned. “Steal my guitar?”

* * *

 

“You’re kidding me.” Lu Han could not believe it. His precious guitar was actually missing and not only that, his bandmates’ instruments were all also missing.

After the rehearsal yesterday, all of the instruments were placed inside the huge practice room they are currently at. Only Lu Han’s and his bandmates’ instruments were missing. It made Lu Han guilty and angry. First the texts now this. What is happening?

“I’m telling the director.” Eugene immediately took his phone out and dialed a number.

“Are there CCTVs in this room?” Lu Han asked as he looked at the ceillings, looking for CCTVs.

“I’m not sure but as far as I remember there is one outside this room.” Andrew replied. He was about to go outside to check but Director suddenly appeared. “Director.”

 “What is going on?” Director asked.

“Someone stole our instruments.” Zach frowned.

“What? That’s impossible.” Director’s eyebrows furrowed. “This room has a security code that only I and your instructors know.”

“Maybe they broke in using the windows.” Keith narrowed his eyes.

Eugene and Lu Han glanced at the window. “Wow taking my drums through a fucking window.” Eugene grunted.

“Maybe they were that desperate.” Lu Han murmured.

“Okay, okay. I’ll try my best to fix this immediately.” Director heaved a sigh. “For the meantime, you’ll be using the instruments from the hotel. Please please for the love of God, please don’t break em.” He warned.

“Yes, director.” They said in unison.

“Okay! Off you go.” Director shooed them. “I’ll text you all once your temporary instruments are ready. Just go and enjoy your Vienna trip or whatever. I’ll be looking at the cctvs for the meantime.”

They nodded and left, leaving the director and some other students inside the practice room.

The director massaged his temples out of annoyance. “It’s only been 2 days. 2 fucking days. Good lord.”

“Who would have stolen our instruments?” Zach opened the topic as soon as they walked outside the hotel. They decided to just roam around the city and enjoy their trip just like what director asked them to. Of course, they’re not enjoying it as much as they wanted to.

“And why would they even steal them in the first place?!” Keith added as he kicked the ground with a huff.

“Fuck them all.” Eugene angrily chomped the Bosna he just bought.

“And we were supposed to practice this morning.” Andrew sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “Dammit. Now we have to reschedule.”

Lu Han remained silent. He just watched his friends as they started buying some Vienna street food and goodies they come across with. He’s considering he knew that this was connected with the texts he has been receiving. But who and why?

Yixing seemed to notice that Lu Han was behind them. He waited for him and then asked, “Lu are you okay?” He looked concerned.  

Lu Han blinked. “Huh what?” There he goes again.

“You’ve been spacing out.”

“I was just thinking…”

“Thinking bout’ what?” Zach and Keith suddenly popped out of nowhere, holding bunch of food .

He breathes out in exasperation. “The instruments of course. I may have a hunch about who could possibly have taken them but I can’t just accuse people.” Lu Han bit his lips.

“You’re shitting me. Tell us.” Eugene decided to butt in upon hearing the word “accuse”.

Lu Han stepped back when his friends suddenly stepped closer. Uncomfortable with the way they looked at him, he decided to step back one more time. “I’ll tell you guys. Really I promise... but not now.” Lu Han quickly sprinted away from them. He looked back at their comical faces and shouted, “I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“Oh c’mon!” Keith yelled as he tried to ran after Lu Han but the younger was a fast runner. “LU HAAAAN”

Lu Han decided to go back to the hotel. While he was walking towards the said place, he saw Tao. “Tao!” He shouted and headed for him.

Tao stopped in tracks and waved. “Oh hi gege...” His face suddenly turned serious. “I actually need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh what is it?” Lu Han asked. “Wanna seat over there first?” He pointed at an empty bench, which earned him a nod from Tao.

Tao spoke softly but enough for Lu Han to hear. “Your instrumentts are missing right? I was kinda’ eavesdropping so...”

Lu Han sighed. “Yes, it’s really a pain in the ass to be honest.” he muttered softly and glanced at Tao. “Those are our babies and we also have to resched our session.”

“I think I know who—“ Tao stopped for a momentarily when he heard some students walking closer to them.

When the students finally walked pass them, Lu Han repeated what Tao just said awhile ago. “You know who?” Does he know who took their instruments? Is that what Tao was about to say?

“I... know who took your instruments.”

_Bingo._

“Who?”

“My...” Tao paused. He looked around once more, making sure that there’s no one around. He took a deep breathe and looked at knees. “My roommate.”

“Ahh Max.” Lu Han whispered. “Why am I not surprised.” He grunted remembering the incident from few days ago.

“He was talking about it while he was on the phone last night. I kinda heard.”

“Alright. Thanks Tao!” Lu Han stretched his arms. He wanted to ask Tao more questions. What was the phone call about? Did he hear where he Max took their instruments? But he chose not to. Knowing Max, Tao might get caught in and worse, get beaten by Max just like what happened to Yifan. He’ll just take care of this by himself.

“No problem gege.” Tao smiled as he pulled out his phone to check the time. He looked at Lu Han and waved back when the upperclassmen waved goodbye.

Max Max Max. Where the fuck is Max? Lu Han paced towards the practice room.

Lu Han bumped into someone and fell back onto the floor. “Ouch.” He said under his breath.  _Well_   _he is not in the practice room._ He thought when he averted his eyes toward the empty room.

“Shit I’m so sorry.” The guy offered him a helping hand.

Lu Han took the hand that the guy offered him. “I’m alright...” Lu Han muttered and looked at the stranger as he dusted off his pants. He then recognized who he bumped into. He looks like someone from the orchestra. For a moment he was hesistant to ask where Max is but decided to just take do it. “But umm excuse do you happen to know where Max is?”

“Max Changmin? Hmm he just finished practicing but I think he went to the storage room to grab something, uhhh I think the one outside.”

Right. Storage room. “Oh thank you umm...”

“Baekhyun.” Baekhyun smiled.

“Right. Thank you Baekhyun!”

“Welcome.”

Lu Han ran as fast as he could towards the storage room, so he can catch up to Max. When he arrived, he immediately opened the door and went inside. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest because of the running. He wasn’t sure if anyone was there because it was too dark. “Max?” Something felt strange. This whole scenario seemed like a déjà vu to him.

“Anybody there? Hell—umfff” Suddenly, a gloved hand clamped over his mouth and nose. His eyes widened suddenly aware of the situation. He kicked the person on the gut and was able to release his mouth.  He cannot believe that this is happening. “What the actual fu—“ Something hard hit his head and everything went black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo I'm sorry for not updating for a long time. I've been busy with college and shit so yeah :((. I'd like to thank Ria for editing this. Anyway guys, god knows when will update next. But I promise you that I will update, I just don't know when AHAHAHHAH. TOODLES~


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